22. When It’s Time to Prepare for What’s Next
“Oppa! Didn’t you miss me?”
My younger sister asked, clinging to me.
Scent.
It wasn’t the smell of perfume or cosmetics. Yet every person has a fragrance all their own.
And that person’s unique scent calls forth memories.
On the crisp wind, the scent of my dearly missed mother tickled my nose.
“I thought I’d die from missing you.”
“Liar!”
My younger sister pretended to sulk, though she was still smiling.
“It’s true. Why would Oppa lie to Gyeongsuk? I heard our Gyeongsuk has been studying hard lately.”
“Yeah! Wanna see?”
Without waiting for my answer, she grabbed my arm and pulled me inside.
“Look at this.”
She turned her bag upside down and shook it out. Notebooks, pencils, and books tumbled from the bag she was carrying.
“Arithmetic’s fun these days. Look. I got one problem wrong. Oppa.”
“You did well?”
“This is……”
I kept humoring her endless stories until I spotted something poking out from one side of the bag.
“Gyeongsuk. Is this bread?”
“Yeah! It’s cornbread. I didn’t eat it so I could bring it for Junho Oppa.”
Cornbread……
Ha, I thought. So it really existed. I’d heard that around this time, elementary schools distributed American aid cornbread and corn porridge for free, but seeing it in person, its appearance was incredibly crude.
“You eat it, Gyeongsuk. Why for Junho?”
“Junho Oppa taught me lots of arithmetic. We gotta share.”
Our family was now well-fed enough not to need to share cornbread, but I supposed this was what family affection was all about.
I looked at her and asked with a broad smile.
“But did you drink your milk?”
“Milk??”
“Yeah. Milk. Don’t they give milk at school too?”
“They don’t give milk?”
Ah. I’d been so lost in thought watching her that I’d momentarily confused the timeline. As she said, they didn’t yet provide milk as a free school meal in elementary schools at this time. I remembered they only started doing that in the 1970s, but seeing the bread, I’d mistakenly assumed milk was given too.
It was a mistake born from my memories of drinking milk at elementary school in my previous life.
I listened to her stories for a long while before finally managing to get up.
*
Before returning to Yeongdeungpo, I stopped by the agricultural research institute.
“Representative Lee. Are you alright?”
“Yes. I’m quite robust…… Haha.”
I answered with a smile to Director Heo Munhoe’s worried face.
This was also one of the reasons I hadn’t personally gone to Yeongdong. Park Minseok, who had been traveling back and forth to Yeongdong in my stead, had told Director Heo Munhoe that I was injured.
It was obvious that Heo Munhoe would blame himself.
“I’m sorry. I’m truly sorry.”
“It’s alright, Director. As you can see, I’ve fully recovered, and thanks to that, there won’t be any other obstacles to the business going forward.”
The shadow still hadn’t left Heo Munhoe’s face.
“It’s true. It was a meeting that gave me far more than I lost. Rather, I should be thanking Director Heo Munhoe.”
Only after I repeatedly assured him I was fine could we finally begin talking about rice.
“We’re almost at the final stage now. Thanks to the excellent equipment you’ve provided, the research is progressing quite quickly.”
Rice development wasn’t something that produced results overnight, so I had invested as much as possible to speed up the timeline.
Yeongdong wasn’t the most optimized region for rice farming, but it had one clear advantage.
“Vinyl greenhouses consume a great deal of water, but here we don’t have to worry about that. Hehe.”
Heo Munhoe said this with an awkward laugh.
I was the one who’d been hurt, yet I had to console him for a long time before finally coaxing out even this much of a smile.
One advantage Yeongdong possessed:
it was close to the great Han River, and since floods were frequent there, if managed properly, agricultural water supply for the greenhouses could be kept smooth.
“Actually, the high-yield strain No. 1 we discussed has already been developed. We’ve temporarily named it Yeongdong No. 1.”
“From Yeongdong No. 1, when do you think the rice with the improved flavor I mentioned can be developed?”
“Hmm…… I’ll be frank with you, Representative Lee.”
“Yes. Please speak freely.”
Shadows began to fall across Heo Munhoe’s face once more.
“It will likely be difficult before next year’s planting season. How about using Yeongdong No. 1 next year……?”
Since my orders and principles regarding taste had been so firm, Heo Munhoe’s request was cautious.
“Let’s do that, Director. However, let’s keep the name Yeongdong No. 1 only among ourselves, and if any farmers want it, please supply it to them.”
When I unexpectedly gave my permission so easily, Heo Munhoe looked at me and asked if I was serious.
“Haha. There isn’t really any alternative, is there? If there had been another way, you wouldn’t have brought it up.”
“Hmm. Thank you. The research team is continuing to work hard, so we’ll make sure to have the rice you described ready for the farming season the year after next.”
A firm resolve permeated the voice of Heo Munhoe, who always spoke with a gentle tone.
“But Representative Lee. Then have you thought about what name to give it instead of Yeongdong No. 1?”
“Hmm…… Let’s call it Tongil rice.”
“Is there a reason?”
Heo Munhoe tilted his head at the somewhat mismatched-sounding name.
“It’s just a feeling. Well, it’s also the wish of a divided nation…… I feel that rice must have that name. And I consider it a step in the process. If we label it Yeongdong No. 1, its bad taste might linger in people’s memories, creating the perception that rice from the Yeongdong region is flavorless.”
Tongil rice was a rice with clear light and shadow.
It was something to be immensely grateful for, yet also a heavy burden for the farmers who had to cultivate it.
My attempt to completely skip over Tongil rice had remained nothing more than an attempt.
But I could push that period up earlier. Because Heo Munhoe and the research team were pressing forward with their research.
The coming year, 1963, would be a year of poor harvest, just like this year.
Although it lacked flavor, it could fill bellies.
That alone was enough to justify Tongil rice’s value. Of course, I couldn’t solve everything with my power alone, but I could at least be a small help.
It wasn’t as if I hadn’t considered using government power to spread Tongil rice nationwide all at once to endure the coming year’s poor harvest.
But not everything went my way, and since Tongil rice was a variety the market itself had shunned, I couldn’t recklessly tell farm households to switch to it.
More than anything, it was concern over the government’s unilateral push. I understood they wanted to show results and achieve food self-sufficiency as quickly as possible, but the reason Tongil rice had become such a heavy burden to farmers in the past was precisely because of that.
Thoughts of food self-sufficiency and other business matters piled up like a mountain in my mind, but these were things that required time.
With that meeting concluded, I returned to Yeongdong Foods. Since Yeongdeungpo was relatively more convenient in terms of transportation and definitely more developed, I had naturally come to use the Yeongdong Foods location as a headquarters of sorts.
Choe Hui had also begun commuting to Yeongdong Foods, following me.
*
-Knock knock
“Come in.”
Buried in documents, I looked up to see Park Minseok enter.
“Boss. The year’s almost over, so put down your work and get some rest.”
Park Minseok began nagging the moment he entered.
“Didn’t you come because you had something to say? Anyway, have a seat, Director Bak.”
I rose from my desk and sat on the sofa, and Park Minseok naturally sat across from me.
“I just stopped by on my way past.”
“Is that really all?”
“Yes. That’s really all.”
“I don’t think so.”
When I said this with a smile, Park Minseok gave in and spoke again.
“Ramen’s been a huge hit too, so why do you seem so hounded?”
Lately I’d been feeling that Park Minseok was rather like a woman, while Choe Hui’s taciturn manner was distinctly masculine.
Even after moving to Yeongdong Foods, Choe Hui had taken on the role of my secretary. Though her title was secretary, she handled this and that, including the company’s finances and anything else that needed doing.
There was no separate secretarial office, and since my own office was rather spacious, I’d set up a desk in one corner to make a space for Choe Hui.
Even now, as Park Minseok entered, she briefly lifted her head to glance at him before returning to her documents.
“Stop smiling. Why do you keep smiling every time you look at me?”
“Not at all. I smile because I like seeing you, Director Bak. Do I really look hounded?”
“Yes. Very much so.”
Park Minseok, as expected.
His insight into people was exceptional.
“Hounded…… Well, it’s not quite that. I was slowly starting to plan the next business venture.”
Truthfully, I had been unknowingly showing signs of being pressed. I had wanted to change even a little, but the aspects one ordinary businessman could alter about the future were terribly few.
So I had unconsciously been feeling impatient.
“Next business venture?”
“Yes. I can’t sell ramen for the rest of my life, can I?”
While the ramen industry had entry barriers, those barriers naturally lowered with capital. It was only a matter of time before more companies started making ramen within a few years, and that wasn’t necessarily a bad thing.
“Do you have something in mind?”
At Park Minseok’s question, I looked at Choe Hui.
I had decided to utilize her as much as possible for this matter. I felt it was time for her to challenge a field of her own, like Park Minseok, rather than merely assisting with tasks.
“Ms. Choe. Have you been studying?”
“Yes.”
When Choe Hui answered with an expressionless face, the seated Park Minseok couldn’t contain his curiosity and approached her desk. He craned his neck and read the word on a book at the corner of her desk.
“Hol……st??”
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